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South Woodhammer 11:05 Mon May 1
Rob Newman head of recruitment

When Moyes goes at the end of the season surely this fella has to follow him out the door. I was reading the interview from September he gave on the club website patting himself on the back for the next level signings that he and Moyes had just made…
Aguerd - injured half the season, decent player but very unconvincing.
Cornet - hardly played. Sick note.
Emerson- hardly played.
Downes - ditto
Areola - ditto
Kehrer - absolute liability
Scamacca - Sick note , gone in the summer.
Paqueta - starting to finally look the part of a £50m signing but his game doesn’t suit Moyesball.
£180m spent and it’d be generous to claim that even one of the 7 he’s scouted and helped sign for Moyes has been a success. Rewind half a dozen games and Paqueta looked like a complete waste of the fee paid. His opposite numbers at Brighton and Brentford must be looking at West Ham and thinking ‘How do I get that job there ? ‘ as you can bet your life that Sullivan paid Newman a small fortune to come over from Man City . Apart from Everton who have had a mare with their signings our recruitment has been the worst in the Premier League for quite a few seasons now. Newman was supposed to have been changing the story but it seems like this club has a cycle that can’t be broken… but surely they can’t let him and Moyes anywhere near the Rice money. That’s if we stay up of course….

Nagel 8:59 Sat May 6
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

Yeah, the hype was ridiculous. I expect fans of most clubs don't even know who their head of scouting is. If anything the club should have been embarrassed that they didn't have this role in place already. Moyes had actually said that we were probably behind every other club in the league in terms of having a proper scouting network.

As you say, it could take years before it really bears fruit, but in the end it's not the scouting data that matters but how it gets used, and at the moment it's the manager who has the final say on that.

Manuel 8:05 Sat May 6
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

It's true it's very difficult for the fans to judge if he is doing a good job or not, and he maybe putting in place a model at the club that will take time to bear any fruits, but would be any worse of now had he never come in? Probably not. All the hype about him was plain fucking daft.

Nagel 7:47 Sat May 6
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

Rob Newman was not the head of scouting at Man City. He was about joint third in line, so this was a big promotion for him. That's why he wanted to leave.

People are being very silly about all this. We're no longer in the days of a scout turning up to a match somewhere and spotting a raw gem that no-one's ever heard of. Newman's job is basically to be in charge of data gathering. He doesn't decide who the club brings in (or else we'd have tried to buy Julian Alvarez soon after he arrived). He just puts recommendations together based on whatever criteria the manager has asked for.

You look at Scamacca and Paqueta and wonder why we spent so much on players who clearly didn't fit in with Moyes style of play, but that was obvious from ten minute clips of them in action for their previous clubs, so presumably in part it was down to Moyes' avowed wish last summer to change the way we played, which never actually happened.

None of us can really know whether Newman is doing a decent job or not, so all this stuff does is relieve some of the blame for our failed transfers off of Moyes' shoulders, where it truly belongs.

Sydney_Iron 6:37 Sat May 6
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

Always a strange appointment i thought? Man city with all that financial clout and resources, if this fella was any good, they would not have let him walk out the door, nor would he have wanted to leave................

All that stuff with him not being able to start with us due to some contractual issues was maybe all part of the con to offload him, we thought we were getting a maestro when it came to spotting talent and signing player, looks in fact that City pulled our pants down.............

Leeshere 2:50 Sat May 6
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

I’m sure Moyes signed Scamacca based on him being Italy’s then number 9, rather whether he could fit into his system. Probably the same with Brazil’s number 10 Pacqueta.

Hammer Oz 6:23 Thu May 4
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

Vexed is Paquetá, shit/average? Asking for a friend

Vexed 12:51 Thu May 4
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

This cunt should be the next out the door once Moyes has been fucked off. Fucking poncing a living and every fucking player we bought last summer has been utter shit. Actually I'd give Aguerd a rating of average. The rest are genuinely fucking shit. Newman is a fucking chancer.

Helmut Shown 12:19 Thu May 4
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

With a manager who could make the most brilliant performer look useless, Newman must have the most difficult job in football. Just look what happened to Sebastien Haller when he left Moyes' evil influence and I' m sure Scamacca will be the same. I never thought I'd say this but he's worse than Allardyce

british is best 8:14 Mon May 1
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

Snaresbrook iron . I can assure you kretinsky hasn't invested so much money into the club . Just to step aside to allow the dwarf to run things as shitily as he's always done . And DK has been speaking to the LLDC for months on top of that . Hardly the actions of someone who doesn't want the club .

SnarestoneIron 7:51 Mon May 1
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

british is best 11:44 Mon May 1

We're known to borrow against the TV money coming in, so don't bet against it!

Crassus 7:19 Mon May 1
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

Nagel

Perfect summary mate
At first sighting it was clear he was absolutely not a traditional point man, Sir Les style
Scamacca appeared to me an intelligent Kane lite sort, dropping off, linking and responding to tight support and inter play
He had a connection with Paq, on through balls but fuck all around him playing to his strengths
A good player this lad, but one who has lost the will from his body language
I suggest that another manager, here or elsewhere will illustrate his abilities in equal measure to Moyes failings

Nagel 7:03 Mon May 1
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

"goalscorer with a good record in Serie A who has never played as a lone striker and scored his goals with a partner beside him"

This isn't really true though. He scored all 16 of his goals last season as the lone striker, usually in a 4231 or 433 formation. He doesn't need a partner beside him, as much as he needs attacking midfielders with pace making runs that he can lay off to. If you play with inverted wingers hugging the touchline until they receive the ball then he's isolated and ineffectual. Might have worked okay somewhat with a player like Lingard as the No 10 running with the ball through the centre but Paqueta cannot do that. That is more about approach play than scoring, but our wingers tend to be more interested in carving out opportunities for themselves than playing in the CF.

And partnering Scamacca with Ings in wouldn't work at all, unless maybe we went really old school 442 with old fashioned wingers bunging crosses in all the time, and we'd just get completely overrun in midfield if we did that.

JayeMPee 6:45 Mon May 1
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

Keep seeing sullivan mentioned as an ongoing problem on several threads but isn't he supposed to be moving on, or out? When are we rid of this monster and his football games?

Manuel 4:37 Mon May 1
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

Steve - All this has been discussed so much now it's bordering on insanity as we can't change anything and Moyes doesn't read what we say. What I will say though is if we did get a new manager and say play Scamacca and Ings as a pair I think you will be disappointed if you suddenly think the goals will start flying in.

Stevethehammer 4:29 Mon May 1
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

Moyes sanctioned the board spending near on 60 million for 2 strikers and plays just 1 converted winger upfront in spite of having a Premier league proven goalscorer sitting there on the bench collecting dust because he isn't being used correctly and. goalscorer with a good record in Serie A who has never played as a lone striker and scored his goals with a partner beside him. Blame Newman, blame Sullivan etc etc but Moyes wanted a striker, got 2 and doesn't play to their strengths in favour of a 1 up top formation. Clueless

Side of Ham 2:50 Mon May 1
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

still don't think (because of the way Sullivan does his deals) we ever get our first or even second choices in the transfer market......only an opinion though not saying that is fact......

BillyJenningsBoots 2:41 Mon May 1
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

Moyes talked about changing to a more possession based football this season (next level) and from what Newman/Sullivan supplied he got players who were much better in possession, both Kehrer and Aguerd are great on the ball, Emerson too is more attacking, Areola's distribution is better than Flappys. Scamacca is a goal scorer and Cornet is a proper left winger. Those attributes are improvements to a technically average team...

The problem is Moyes just inserted the new players into his usual formation in the hope it created a passing team that everyone wanted... those defensive players either got Injured or kept dropping clangers and he reverted to the tried and trusted. Scamacca was never going to work in a one up top..

Whose fault this is, is up for debate.. if Newman had realised Kehrer and Aguerd were due a mistake in every game would he have recommended them should he have known - I'd say yes before selection he should have done a better job. Scamaccas a weird one, not a line striker so why pick him unless Moyes was going to change to 2 up front.. so a miscommunication or bad selection?

Either way this experiment has not worked - now either change the player, change the system or change the manager..

CanningTownWA 1:58 Mon May 1
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

Side of Ham
I totally agree, its to easy writing off all the players when you see what a half decent manager can do to turn around teams and make players better not worse like Moyse

Nagel 1:27 Mon May 1
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

Crassus 12:53 Mon May 1

Crassus 12:53 Mon May 1
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

How on Earth Newman carries any blame is beyond me?

There is little from the club stating who does what and the direction of his brief, so working upon that we do know, as in publicly released and as I think of them

Moyes has the final say on signings
Newman was originally directed along the Red Bull policy
Warburton has a family connection to Downes
Newman has strong connections in S America
Newman has strong connections in Ireland
We have bought/been linked to youngsters from both
Moyes blocked Alvarez
Moyes is a long standing admirer of Ings
Moyes waited excessively for Lingard

On top of which, what has the selected side got to do with Newman when Moyes picks the same core week in week out?

I see no attributable liability to Newman

Stevethehammer 12:41 Mon May 1
Re: Rob Newman head of recruitment

Newman has given Moyes a better team, every position he wanted/needed filled he got a player in that was better than what we originally had. How is it Newman's fault that Moyes has decided this season he will be completely anti attacking, soak up pressure and continue to play out of form players in favour of giving HIS signings any chance to get a run of form. The way he has managed some of those players make you wonder if Newman will stick around. Whats the point in dithering around all fucking summer flirting with Lingard and then going to the list Newman compiled and still not playing those players. 200 million down the swanny so that Moyes can play anti football and bore the fucking life out of 45k season ticket holders and many thousand more supporters across the land. A few flash in the pan results mean fuck all. We shouldn't be in this position but it's his tactics, his man management and his desire to play in a certain way overlooking the footballing talent we have in the side.

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